People News

Betty Castor, Florida's school chief, last month announcing start of
literacy program for Orlando 5th graders.
Betty Castor, Florida's commissioner of education, has been appointed
to a 25-member committee that will prepare the education platform for
the Democratic National Convention, to be held in July in Atlanta.

Gov. James J. Blanchard of Michigan was named to head the
committee.

Ms. Castor said she was "excited at the opportunity to create the
highest possible visibility for education at the federal level."

"I have some very specific areas in which the states and the nation
need to be going in the area of early-childhood education and dropout
prevention," she said. "This committee gives the opportunity to really
showcase Florida and for Florida to shine in the educational
arena."

In October, Ms. Castor had met with Paul Kirk, the Democratic
party's national chair6man, to express her desire to win a seat on the
committee. She was nominated for the job by the state's Democratic
Party chairman.

Charges have been dropped against Joe Clark, the tough-talking
high-school principal who made the cover of Time magazine last week
after a nationally reported war of words over accusations that he had
unfairly expelled 66 failing students without due process. But
officials in Paterson, N.J., say the controversy is not over yet.

In a meeting last week, the board of education voted unanimously to
put the decision of whether to discipline Mr. Clark in the hands of
Superintendent Frank Napier.

Mr. Napier, a close friend of Mr. Clark, will investigate the
incident and make recommendations at a Feb. 14 board meeting.

In a highly unusual move, James Scamman, superintendent of schools in
Denver, has left his post to accept a lesser job in the system.

Mr. Scamman, who was appointed superintendent in 1985, resigned late
last month and asked the Denver board of education to reassign him to
the job of executive director of curriculum services for the district.
He will earn $56,660 in his new position--$22,000 less than his current
salary.

Although the school board had been divided over Mr. Scamman's
performance, it did not put pressure on him to resign, said Carole
McCotter, a board member.

U.S. Representative Patricia Schroeder, Democrat of Colorado, may be
out of the race for President, but she is determined to keep family
issues high on the candidates' agenda.

Ms. Schroeder is one of the moving forces behind "The Great American
Family Tour," a multi-city road show that she says is designed to "get
family issues front and center" in the 1988 campaign.

Other participants in the tour include T. Berry Brazelton, a
pediatrician at Harvard University; Gary David Goldberg, producer and
creator of the television show "Family Ties"; and Diana Meehan,
director of the Institute for the Study of Women and Men at the
University of Southern California.

The group will conduct the Southern half of its tour Feb. 21-24,
stopping in St. Petersburg, Fla.; Atlanta; Columbia, S.C.; and Little
Rock, Ark. Their first stop, last month, was in Portsmouth, N.H.

Among the ideas being promoted at the public forums are family
medical leave; affordable, high-quality child care; pay equity; and
better housing and health-care services.

An organizing kit distributed during the tour tells families how
they can help "speak out" on such issues. Local organizations, such as
school groups, the United Way, and day-care centers, are cosponsoring
the tour in specific cities.

Five public-school teachers were named "Christa McAuliffe Educators"
last week by the National Education Association's foundation for the
improvement of education. Their selection was based on their innovative
use of technology in the classroom.

The award includes a $5,000 honorarium and will give the winners the
chance to design a summer teachers' conference on integrating
technology with instruction.

Donna Rhodes, executive director of the foundation, said the
teachers were selected for their "creativity, innovation, risk-taking,
leadership, and dedication to pioneering uncharted frontiers--qualities
exemplified by the teacher-astronaut who lost her life in the Jan. 28,
1986, explosion of the Challenger spacecraft."

The foundation established the program as part of its new Christa
McAuliffe Institute, which is designed to help teachers take a leading
role in restructuring schools.

The five McAuliffe educators include: Merlyn Chan, a 6th-grade
science teacher at Skyline Elementary School in Daly City, Calif;
Ronald Fortunato, a science teacher at the Norfolk Technical Vocational
School in Norfolk, Va.; Jeff Holte, a 6th-grade science,
social-studies, and communications teacher at Central Middle School in
Eden Prairie, Minn.; Gail Morse, a science teacher at J.M. Alexander
Junior High School in Huntersville, N.C.; and Alan November, a teacher
in the information and science department at Wellesley Middle School in
Wellesley, Mass.

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